1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a coffeemaker of the drip type wherein water is heated within a housing and pumped to a spreader to discharge into a supported carafe. The present invention is directed to an improved pump and delivery subassembly of few parts and easy removability whereby the entire subassembly may be depressed and lifted out and then concentrically separated into four simple parts for easy cleaning and reassembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In electric drip coffeemakers, it has been common practice to provide a generally C-shaped molded plastic housing with a lower horizontal leg for holding a heated carafe and the other upper horizontal leg forming an overhanging top wall located above the carafe and containing a spreader for dripping water through an intermediate coffee brew basket and into the carafe. The vertical leg contains an internal water reservoir and a heating chamber which supplies heated water through a water spreader in the top wall of the housing into the coffee brew basket. Such a general coffeemaker has widely replaced the percolator types and an arrangement of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,740 of common assignment. These coffeemakers may come in numerous sizes and smaller four cup coffeemakers have been simplified but operate on the same general principles and such a coffeemaker is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,846.
As in all such coffeemakers, it is desirable to remove the pump and delivery means for cleaning and to this end it has been common to provide the parts in a subassembly that may be removed for easy cleaning. Such an arrangement is shown in said '846 patent. One of the constant aims is to reduce the cost of such coffeemakers as well as the number of parts and still maintain easy cleanability. The present invention is an improvement on the general structure of said U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,846.